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Some aspects of contemporary land use changes in Croatia – vineyards case study

Located at the crossroads of the Pannonian basin, Mediterranean and Dinaric Alps, Croatia has favorable soil and climatic conditions for the development of agriculture. However, Croatia has faced intensive land abandonment during the last thirty years. Major reasons for that have been the transition from planned to the market economy, Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995), strong growth of the service sector (especially tourism), mostly elderly population in rural areas, small plots, and property issues. In general, the used agricultural area is decreasing while the share of forests and woodlands is increasing. This paper aims to present the current situation with vineyards as a land use category and identify the factors that have influenced the changes in vineyard areas in Croatia. Both archival and contemporary data and GIS will be used to analyze the data and visualize the results. Vineyards are a land use category especially susceptible to social and economic changes. During the 1880s there were almost 180, 000 hectares of vineyards of Croatia, in the 1950s 100, 000 ha while nowadays vineyards cover around 20, 000 ha. Although the area under vineyards is decreasing, there is a difference between small traditional vineyards cultivated for personal needs, threatened to completely disappear, and newly-planted vineyards which surface is increasing. New winemakers are often successful on the market because they produce high-quality wine. This is, among other reasons, the result of Croatia's accession to the EU in 2013, which enabled it to gain access to the new markets and receive subsidies for agricultural production. Also, after 2013, there has been a considerable growth of organically farmed land in Croatia. Although this refers mainly to pastures and ploughlands, organically produced wine is more lucrative than the conventional one. Small family farms are the main bearers of the new vineyard cultivation, however, the majority of them cultivate less than 1 ha. The main winegrowing regions in Croatia are located in its littoral (insular and coastal belt of Dalmatia and Istria) and continental part (Eastern Slavonia and Central Croatia). Regional clustering of wine growing is, therefore, present, but it is not pronounced.

Croatia ; Vineyards ; Land Use Changes

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